House debates
Monday, 13 August 2007
- Delegation Reports (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Science and Innovation Committee; Report (3 speeches)
On behalf of the Standing Committee on Science and Innovation, I present the committee’s report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled Between a rock and a hard place: the science of...
- Main Committee (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Main Committee (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Main Committee (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Transport and Regional Services; Report (4 speeches)
On behalf of the Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services, I present the committee’s report entitled The great freight task: is Australia’s transport network up to the...
- Main Committee (0 speeches)
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Reserve Forces Day (1 speech)
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending Reserve Forces Day, which was held in my electorate at the Keswick Barracks. Reserve Forces Day aims both to raise the profile of Navy, Army and...
- Shared Parenting Council of Australia (1 speech)
I congratulate the Shared Parenting Council of Australia on its work in handling family law issues. I became involved with this group and its moves to change family law in 2002. It has...
- Humanitarian Aid (1 speech)
I rise this afternoon to talk about the important issue of Australia’s overseas humanitarian aid and the need to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in developing countries. The...
- Australia-Taiwan Friendship Group (1 speech)
As chair of the Australia-Taiwan Friendship Group, I have spoken many times in this parliament about the relationship between our two countries and the challenges that continually face Taiwan in...
- Interest Rates (1 speech)
After nine interest rate hikes in a row and five since the last election, families in the electorate of Oxley are doing it very tough. Even though the Prime Minister says that working families...
- Tasmania: Produce of Heaven Campaign (1 speech)
As part of the second major initiative under the Produce of Heaven campaign, 17 north-west Tasmanian agribusiness companies will travel to Hong Kong from 14 to 21 August to promote...
- Environmentally Sustainable Development (1 speech)
Earlier this year I was involved in a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association study group on parliamentarians and the environment. We released a final communique entitled Effecting the...
- Radiowave Therapy (1 speech)
I want to briefly refer to the technology known as radiowave therapy. This originated largely through the research of Dr John Holt. Under standing order 43, I would like to present to the House a...
- Australian Youth Climate Coalition (1 speech)
Later today a petition will be presented to the House which was presented to me by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition at the launch of their Adopt a Politician campaign here in Parliament...
- Launceston General Hospital (1 speech)
I rise today to blow the lid on the Tasmanian government’s agenda to strip away services from Launceston General Hospital for the benefit of its future ‘Taj Mahal’ of the Royal...
- Canberra Southern Cross Club (1 speech)
I had the pleasure yesterday of attending an annual luncheon at the Canberra Southern Cross Club at Woden. The Canberra Southern Cross Club is one of our larger clubs in the ACT. It holds an...
- Tea Tree Gully Golf Club (1 speech)
On Saturday, 4 August the Tea Tree Gully Golf Club in my electorate of Makin celebrated its 75th anniversary at a special anniversary dinner. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere...
- Asbestos (2 speeches)
Last week in parliament I raised a matter that is of growing concern to many workers and homeowners in Australia: the growth in the number of Australians with asbestos related diseases. The...
- Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Mr Speaker, I inform the House that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will be absent from question time today for personal reasons. The Minister for Trade will answer questions...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Interest Rates (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his statement this morning that his promise to keep interest rates at record lows was not real because the commitment...
- Economy (13 speeches)
My question is addressed to the greatest Prime Minister in Australian history.
- Interest Rates (2 speeches)
My question is again to the Prime Minister. I again refer the Prime Minister to his statement that his promise to keep interest rates at record lows was not real because that commitment...
- Workplace Relations (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Treasurer. Has the Treasurer seen recent modelling on the benefits of industrial relations reform? What does this modelling indicate about the impact of rolling...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (2 speeches)
Order! I inform the House that we have present in the gallery this afternoon members of a parliamentary delegation from the Republic of Indonesia. On behalf of the House, I extend a very warm...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Economy (18 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer aware that the 2006 ABS census figures show that over half a million households, or one in three Australian households that rent, are now paying...
- Families (2 speeches)
My question is also addressed to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer inform the House of the assistance which the government delivers to low-income families? I am particularly interested in those...
- Economy (26 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, why is it so hard for you to repeat the Prime Minister’s statement to this parliament that working families in Australia have never been better off?
- Regional Infrastructure (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister advise the House on how the coalition government works in...
- Economy (5 speeches)
My question is again to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that the Salvation Army’s submission to the Senate inquiry into the cost of living pressures on senior Australians...
- Iraq (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister advise the House on the government’s policy towards political reconciliation in Iraq? Are there any other...
- Workplace Relations (19 speeches)
My question is to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues. I refer the minister to the Women and WorkChoices: impacts on the low pay sector report released today. In...
- Water (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and relates to a proposed 500 million tonne coalmine on the Liverpool Plains west of Werris Creek. Given that the...
- Older Australians (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Would the minister advise the House on what steps the government is taking to increase the real...
- Climate Change (3 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to a dissenting climate change report tabled in parliament today by four government members that states: Here, we have a captain of industry (Rupert...
- Water (2 speeches)
My question is directed to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Will the minister update the House on the progress of the national water plan, and will the states benefit by...
- Climate Change (9 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister’s glowing reference for the member for Tangney, which was quoted in the West Australian on 6 September 2006. Does the...
- Aged Care (13 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Minister for Ageing. Would the minister advise the House on what steps the government has taken to ensure residents of aged-care facilities are not exploited by...
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- (3 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the chair to add to an answer.
- Questions to the Speaker (0 speeches)
- Electoral Enrolments (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I have a question for you. Last Wednesday, 1 August, I received in my office in Melbourne from the Clerk a copy of my question of 8 May and an answer by the Special Minister of State,...
- Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
- (9 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
The Clerk: Petitions have been lodged for presentation as follows and copies will be referred to the appropriate ministers:
- Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
- United Kingdom: Pensions (8 speeches)
I move: That the House:(1)notes that:(a)over 242,000 British pensioners living in Australia have their pensions frozen in value and thus not increased when the pensions in the United Kingdom (UK)...
- Disabled Veterans and Pensions (9 speeches)
I move: That the House:(1)affirms its recognition of the sacrifices made by Australia’s veterans;(2)accepts its obligation to ensure that veterans’ sacrifices are acknowledged and...
- Grievance Debate (0 speeches)
- (0 speeches)
Question proposed: That grievances be noted.
- Calwell Electorate: Iraq (1 speech)
Today I rise to speak on behalf of the many constituents living in my electorate of Calwell who currently have family living in Iraq, or family members who have been forced to flee Iraq as...
- Housing Affordability (1 speech)
I grieve today about the opportunities denied young people to own their own home in the capitals of Australia. Madam Deputy Speaker Bishop, I am sure that you are aware because of your knowledge...
- Water (1 speech)
There are two issues that I would like to raise this afternoon that relate to my electorate. They are both based on the water issue. I raised a question in question time today with the Minister...
- State and Territory Labor governments (1 speech)
I rise in the House today to grieve about the economic mismanagement of state and territory Labor governments across Australia. During the past year we have witnessed a gradual decline in fiscal...
- Water (1 speech)
I rise to speak about an issue of grave concern within my electorate—that is, the Howard government’s plan to build a dam right over the village of Tyalgum. The village of Tyalgum is...
- Hospitals (2 speeches)
I was prompted to rise today because of my awareness of the state hospital systems in regional Western Australia. They are in an absolutely deplorable condition and, with the Prime...
- Sustainable Energy (2 speeches)
Recently I spent two weeks in the United States of America studying developments in solar energy and clean coal technologies. I did so as the member for Newcastle, understanding that sustainable...
- Special (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I move: That the House, at its rising, adjourn until Tuesday, 14 August 2007, at 12.30 p.m., unless the Speaker or, in the event of the Speaker being unavailable, the Deputy Speaker, fixes an...
- Aviation Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill received from the Senate and read a first time. Ordered that the second reading be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
- Apec Public Holiday Bill 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (21 speeches)
Debate resumed from 8 August, on motion by Mr Hockey: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Consideration in Detail (1 speech)
Bill—by leave—taken as a whole.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 4) Bill 2007; Taxation (Trustee Beneficiary Non-Disclosure Tax) Bill (No. 1) 2007; Taxation (Trustee Beneficiary Non-Disclosure Tax) Bill (No. 2) 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (5 speeches)
Debate resumed from 21 June, on motion by Mr Pearce: That these bills be now read a second time.
- Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 4) Bill 2007 (0 speeches)
- Consideration in Detail (1 speech)
Bill—by leave—taken as a whole.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Taxation (Trustee Beneficiary Non-Disclosure Tax) Bill (No. 1) 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (0 speeches)
Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Pearce: That this bill be now read a second time. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Taxation (Trustee Beneficiary Non-Disclosure Tax) Bill (No. 2) 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (0 speeches)
Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Pearce: That this bill be now read a second time. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Judges’ Pensions Amendment Bill 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (17 speeches)
Debate resumed from 14 June, on motion by Mr Ruddock: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’S Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (18 speeches)
Debate resumed from 9 August, on motion by Mr Robb: That this bill be now read a second time. upon which Mr Stephen Smith moved by way of amendment: That all words after ‘That’ be...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 9 pm, I propose the question: That the House do now adjourn.
- Grocery Prices; Mr David Lentin (5 speeches)
I think the member for Moreton is auditioning for the role of surprise spruiker in The Chaser.
- Climate Change (1 speech)
Like most members, I receive periodic correspondence on issues relating to the environment, greenhouse gases, global warming and so on. I share these concerns because, like everyone here, I am...
- Housing Affordability (1 speech)
A couple of months ago I undertook a sample survey in the Throsby electorate seeking responses from my constituents on the issues that were causing them financial pressure and on matters of...
- Deakin Electorate: Law and Order (1 speech)
The right of people to feel safe in their local community is one of the most personal freedoms we hold. We all take for granted the ability to walk the streets of our local neighbourhood and...
- Australian Automotive Industry (1 speech)
Following the sacking of 600 workers from the General Motors car plant in Adelaide earlier this year, I spoke in this place about the progressive collapse of the Australian motor vehicle industry...
- Produce of Heaven Campaign (2 speeches)
I take this opportunity this evening to acknowledge the Produce of Heaven campaign that continues in Hong Kong this week. I acknowledged the team earlier today in the 90-second statements. As...
- Committees (0 speeches)
